The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

If you’ve been shouting at “OK Google” at your laptop all morning long, unsuccessfully trying to voice-activate a Google search, it’s not a problem with your computer.

VentureBeat reports that Google’s recent release of Chrome 46 not only added a number of new features, it also removed the phrase that triggered voice search on the company’s homepage.

Google says it made the decision to drop the feature from its desktop version of Chrome because it just wasn’t being used.

“OK Google” first debuted as an extension in late 2013, and was officially built into the Chrome browser in May 2014.

Consumers utilizing Chrome for mobile, as well as actual Chromebooks, can still use “OK Google” to start searches.

Desktop users that don’t have Chromebooks can conduct an almost completely hands-free inquiry on the engine by pressing the microphone icon.

Dropping “OK Google” is just the latest change for Chrome this week. VentureBeat reports that in about six weeks – with the release of Chrome 47 – Google will also do away with the notification center.